Samuel booth



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL BOOTH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COAL-SIFTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,430, dated October 20, 1857.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL BOOTH, of New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coal-Ash Sifters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being made to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, which is a longitudinal vertical section, exhibiting interior and operation-that is to say- My improvement in coal ash sifters lies in the construction and arrangement within a closed boX, intended as a receptacle for coal ashes and cinders, of a screening apparatus, which shall effect the operations of sifting the cinder from said ashes without allowing the dust to escape, and depositing the same in separate compartments by the mere act of emptying` said ashes and cinders into the said boX.

Heretofore ash sifters have always required some special work or operation to effect the separation of the cinder, which work, as is well known, is reluctantly performed and generally avoided by domestics as much as possible, by reason of the extra labor required, as well as from the disagreeable character of the work by reason of its dirt and dust. It is well known that some kind of force or mechanical action is necessary in order to accomplish such a result; hence the usual employment of means to effect the agitation of the sieve. By the form of construction I have adopted I am enabled to employ, as the required mechanical action, the force of impact, and I avail myself of this by so arranging a screen in connection with a chute-board, that the ashes, &c., will strike upon it perpendicularly or nearly so to its surface, whereby the most of the finer particles will at once pass through, and, the said screen being also inclined, the remainder of such particles will be worked through without other action than that of gravity. Hence the mere act of pouring effects the sifting also, and as it is usual to have a receptacle for the accumulation of ashes, the sifter itself may be made said receptacle, so that every scuttleful thrown in will certainly be sifted, resulting in considerable saving of fuel.

My screen is constructed as seen in the drawing, the box being shaped to conform somewhat to the direction taken by the ashes as it is being sifted. The bottom is divided by a low partition into two compartments of about equal dimensions, and into which drawers, (a) and (In), are fitted. The sifter or screen, seen at (o), lies in an inclined position over (ai), the lower end resting upon the partition and the other near the top of the back end of the box, at which place is a narrow opening (d), (covered by a flap) to admit or remove the screen. At the highest part of the box is an oblong opening eXtending all across, and at the front edge of this I place an inclined chute-board (c), but standing perpendicular (or nearly so) to the surface of the screen, the termination of which chute is near the said surface and toward its upper end, as shown. The dust is prevented from escaping by a flap hinged at the top back edge of the opening already named, and so that its lower edge will strike or restagainst (e), said flap forming a self-acting door, which, being` pressed open by the descending ashes, will cloes the moment the supply ceases.

The operation is as follows. The ashes is represented as being thrown into the hopper from a coal-bod, being sent in in a continuous stream. Sliding directly down the chute-board (e) it forces (i) open and is projected with considerable force squarely upon the screen (c), and near its top. A considerable portion of the ashes passes through at once, leaving the cinders free to roll down and fall into their receptacle (b), the remaining ashes being screened out before they arrive at the bottom, and of course fall into (a). The jarring produced by the rolling down. of irregular shaped cinders' assists the operation, the screening thus being an entirely self operating performance. The scuttle or hod being emptied, the flap (i) closes, and thus the dust produced by the agitation within is prevented from escaping.

Having now fully described my improvement I wish to be understood that I do not lay any claim upon the different parts composing my improved apparatus when separately considered but I claim in my improved coal ash sifter, the specific arrangement herein described, consisting of the inclined screen in such combination with the chute-board, which is also "inclined, that the impact of the stream of ashes and cinders shall be perpendicular (or nearly so) to the surface of Said screen; and operation, is prevented from escaping, as set this I claim when said arrangement is inforth. 10 cased Within a tight boX having a Hap or In Witness whereof I have hereunto subdoor to close automatically so soon as the scribed my naine.

ashes have been poured in, by which con- SAMUEL BOOTH. struction the separation of the cinders is Witnesses:

effected by the mere operation of pouring, S. H. MAYNARD,

and by which also the dust incident to said THOMAS DUCEY. 

